In the team’s last Mid-American Conference dual meet, the Eastern Michigan University men’s wrestling team fell to the Central Michigan University Chippewas on Friday in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
CMU wrestlers and gymnasts marked wins in their second ever Rumble and Tumble, an event where both teams shared the gym in competition.
The Eagles lost 31-6, which forced EMU to drop to 1-4 in the MAC
and 7-12 overall.
“I feel like we could have competed a little harder and possibly won a few matches,but to be honest, their six seniors are experienced and tough and very hard to beat,” EMU coach Derek DelPorto said. “Things would have had to gone perfect for us to win.”
Even with the team’s loss, EMU redshirt junior Nick Whitenburg moved up to 3-0 in the MAC and 7-6 overall. The Eagles didn’t get Whitenburg’s points until CMU was already well in the lead.
EMU freshman Alexander Calandrino, 125 pounds, posted a close 4-0 loss. His CMU opponent, nationally ranked No. 7 Christian Cullinan, got a second-period reversal and a third-period takedown to set the tone for CMU.
EMU redshirt senior Filiberto Colon wrestled in his second dual meet of the season. No. 7 ranked Chippewas wrestler, Scotti Sentes, defeated Colon for a 5-1 decision.
The 141-pound and 149-pound bouts went to CMU as EMU redshirt junior Seth Schaner and redshirt freshman Mike Shaw lost their matches. Schaner’s opponent, Scott Mattingly, got an early second-period reversal to pin Schaner and take the win. Shaw lost by a 7-2 decision.
EMU redshirt freshmen Chris Rau, 157 pounds, and Jacob Davis, 165 pounds, lost their matches to bring CMU to a 21-0 lead. Rau lost by a 7-4 decision and Davis lost by a 9-3 decision.
“I liked our fight and I liked how our freshmen competed,” DelPorto said.
The Eagles lost two more weight classes before claiming one as their own. EMU redshirt sophomore Jacob Dorulla lost by a 4-0 decision to Anthony Bill at 174 pounds.
The Chippewas took the 184-pound weight class as their nationally ranked No. 2 Ben Bennett defeated redshirt junior Khodor Hoballah with a 13-3 major decision.
Whitenburg finally got his time to shine as he pinned Jackson Lewis in the first period to take the 197-pound weight class.
“No pin is a surprise, but how fast I pinned [Lewis] was a little unexpected,” Whitenburg said. “I got the takedown really quick and ended up pulling him back in bounds to pin him when I locked up my pinning combination.”
CMU took the final weight class with a 3-1 decision over redshirt freshman Anthony Abro.
“I felt that we fought hard as a team because more of the scores were close,” Whitenburg said. “We had a pretty young team out there so experience was a big factor.”
The Eagles will compete in their last home dual meet of the season Feb. 17 against the Iowa State University Cyclones. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m. in Bowen Field House.
“I expect a lot of effort from whoever is out on the mat for us…period,” DelPorto said. “If you don’t fight as hard as you can, you will not be out there for the Eagles.”
